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It Chapter Two
| screenplay = Gary Dauberman | based on = | starring = | music = Benjamin Wallfisch | cinematography = Checco Varese | editing = Jason Ballantine | production companies = | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures | released = | runtime = 169 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $79 million | gross = $388.6 million }} 'It Chapter Two' is a 2019 American supernatural horror film and the sequel to the 2017 film ''It, both based on the 1986 novel by Stephen King. The film is directed by Andy Muschietti from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman. It is produced by New Line Cinema, Double Dream, Vertigo Entertainment and Rideback, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film features an ensemble cast including James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, and Bill Skarsgård, who returns as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Set in 2016, 27 years after the first film, the story follows the remaining members of the Losers' Club reuniting in order to defeat the eponymous being who has returned to terrorize the town of Derry, Maine. Development for a second planned film began in February 2016, with Dauberman drafting a script that was envisioned as two parts. In September 2017, following the release of the first film, New Line Cinema confirmed the sequel, with Dauberman writing the script and Muschietti to direct. Alongside the main cast, the film features returning appearances from Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer and Wyatt Oleff as the younger counterparts of the Losers' Club. Principal photography began on June 19, 2018, at Pinewood Toronto Studios and on locations in and around Port Hope, Oshawa, and Toronto, Ontario, and wrapped on October 31, 2018. It Chapter Two premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on August 26, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 6, 2019, in 2D and IMAX. The film received praise for its acting (particularly Hader and Skarsgård) and themes, though criticism was aimed at its runtime and weaker scares compared to its predecessor. Its faithfulness to the novel also drew a polarized response. Plot In 2016 Derry, Maine, Don Hagarty witnesses his boyfriend Adrian Mellon being murdered by Pennywise after a gang of homophobic teenagers throw Adrian off a bridge while leaving a carnival. This convinces Mike Hanlon to call his childhood friends back to Derry and honor the promise they made in 1989 of killing It. While the others travel to Derry with only hazy memories and a sense of dread, Stanley Uris commits suicide in the bath soon after getting the call. The Losers meet for dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where Mike helps them remember It while being tormented by hallucinations and learning of Stan's suicide. Richie and Eddie consider leaving while Mike convinces Bill Denbrough via a drug-induced vision that the Shokopiwah Native American tribe's Ritual of Chüd can stop It for good. After the others agree to perform the ritual, and Beverly Marsh reveals her exposure to It's Deadlights made her experience visions of the Losers' deaths from failing to honor their promise, Mike explains that the ritual requires seven personal items from their past. Meanwhile, Henry Bowers, having survived his apparent death and placed in a mental institution for patricide, escapes with help from Pennywise posing as Patrick Hockstetter's corpse. Acquiring Stan's shower cap from their old clubhouse, Mike advises the others to find their artifacts by retracing their steps following their falling out after first entering Neibolt House. Beverly finds Ben Hanscom's love letter at her old home, still believing Bill wrote it while encountering It as Mrs. Kersh. Ben recalls his childhood encounter with It at high school before realizing his artifact is the yearbook page Beverly signed which he kept in his wallet. Both Richie and Eddie recall their own personal encounters with It while retrieving their artifacts: a game token from an abandoned arcade, and an inhaler. It taunts the adult Richie as Pennywise and menaces Eddie in the guise of the Leper, only for Eddie to stand up to and cause It to shrink in size before escaping. Bill finds his childhood bicycle "Silver" and recovers the paper boat from the storm drain where Georgie was killed while meeting a boy named Dean, who lives at his old house and hears voices from the shower drain. Bill regroups with the others before running off to the carnival upon learning It is going after Dean, only to end up watching helplessly as It brutally devours Dean in front of him. Meanwhile, Henry unsuccessfully attempts to murder Eddie before running off to attack Mike, only to be killed by Richie. The Losers join a traumatized Bill at the Neibolt house, talking him out of facing It alone out of guilt. The group descends into an underground cavern beneath the sewers and performs the ritual in the remains of the meteor that brought It to Earth ages ago, Mike's artifact being the rock Beverly threw at Henry years ago. The Deadlights initially seem trapped by the ritual, only to escape after Pennywise emerges from the sealing jar in a giant spider-like form. Pennywise pressures Mike into revealing that It killed those who previously performed the ritual, before attacking the Losers and placing Bill, Ben, and Beverly in nightmarish scenarios, which they escape once Bill lets go of his guilt over Georgie's death and Beverly realizes Ben wrote the love letter. Richie gets caught in Its Deadlights while attempting to save Mike, with Eddie fatally wounded after saving him. The Losers regroup while realizing they can exploit Pennywise's subjection to the rules of having a physical form to kill It, shrinking Pennywise so they can rip out Its heart and crush it. Eddie dies from his injuries with the Losers forced to leave him behind when It's death causes a cave-in that destroys the Neibolt house. The remaining Losers wash off at the quarry and comfort a tearful Richie over losing Eddie, their ordeal's end signified by scars on their hands being fully healed. The Losers part ways while retaining their memories, Ben and Beverly becoming a couple while Richie returns to the kissing bridge where he had once carved his initials and another person's, now revealed to be Eddie. Bill begins writing his new story before receiving a call from Mike as he leaves Derry, learning that Stan sent them all posthumous letters. Stan reveals in his letter that his suicide was actually a means to give his friends a fighting chance against It, asking the remaining Losers to live life to the fullest. Cast * James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough: The resourcefully determined former leader of the Losers Club who is seeking vengeance for the murder of his younger brother, Georgie, and fights his killer, Pennywise, during the summer of 1989. He promises that he and the other losers will return to Derry if It comes back. As an adult, Bill is a successful mystery novelist in Los Angeles, and is married to a successful actress named Audra Phillips. ** Jaeden Martell as Young Bill Denbrough * Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh: The only female member of the Losers Club, who was abused physically and sexually by her father, was bullied at school over false rumors of promiscuity, and was Bill and Ben's love interest. As an adult, she has become a successful fashion designer in Chicago while enduring an abusive marriage. ** Sophia Lillis as Young Beverly Marsh * Bill Hader as Richie Tozier: Bill's bespectacled best friend and fellow member of the Losers Club, whose loud mouth and foul language often get him into trouble. As an adult, Richie becomes a successful stand-up comic in Los Angeles. ** Finn Wolfhard as Young Richie Tozier * Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon: A member of the Losers Club who fought against It. As an adult, Mike is the only one to stay in Derry and becomes the town librarian. He summons the other Losers back to Derry when It resurfaces. ** Chosen Jacobs as Young Mike Hanlon ** Tristian Levi Cox and Torian Matthew Cox as 4-year-old Mike Hanlon * Jay Ryan as Ben Hanscom: A member of the Losers Club who fought against It and was bullied as a child for being overweight. As an adult, he is fit and a successful architect living in Nebraska. ** Jeremy Ray Taylor as Young Ben Hanscom * James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak: A member of the Losers Club who is the epitome of a hypochondriac. As an adult, Eddie is a successful risk assessor living in New York City and is married to Myra, who is very similar to his Munchausen syndrome by proxy-stricken mother Sonia. ** Jack Dylan Grazer as Young Eddie Kaspbrak * Andy Bean as Stanley Uris: A pragmatic member of the Losers Club who fought against It. As an adult, he becomes a firm accountant in Atlanta, Georgia and married a woman named Patty Blum. He later commits suicide because he knows that he fears the creature too much. ** Wyatt Oleff as Young Stanley Uris * Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Dancing Clown / "It": An ancient, trans-dimensional monster that awakens every twenty-seven years to feed on the fear of children that it murders. Pennywise is It's favorite and primary form. It was overpowered and seriously wounded by the Losers' Club in 1989, forcing it into early hibernation. This defeat motivates the monster being to rebuild its strength and exact revenge against the Losers' Club once they return to Derry. Other forms of It include Joan Gregson as Mrs. Kersh, an apparently sweet and gentle elderly woman, and actually a perfidious monster, who lives in Beverly Marsh's childhood home; Javier Botet as Hobo, a leper man who encountered a young Eddie at the 29 Neibolt Street house, and also as The Witch, the monstrous form of Mrs. Kersh; Jackson Robert Scott as Georgie Denbrough, Bill's deceased younger brother; and Owen Teague as Patrick Hockstetter, Henry's dead friend who was killed by Pennywise in the sewers in 1989. Additionally, Teach Grant portrays Henry Bowers, a psychopath who terrorized the Losers' Club in the summer of 1989 before he was arrested for murdering his father. Nicholas Hamilton reprises his role as the young Henry Bowers. Molly Atkinson reprises her role as Sonia, Eddie's overweight Munchausen syndrome by proxy-stricken mother, and also plays Eddie's wife Myra, who is very similar to Sonia. Luke Roessler portrays Dean, a young boy who meets Bill near the storm drain where Georgie was killed in 1988, and is later killed by It at the Funland, while Xavier Dolan and Taylor Frey appear as Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty, a young gay couple who are attacked by a group of youths during a carnival. Jake Weary appears as Webby, the leader of the youth gang who attacks Adrian and Don. Ryan Kiera Armstrong appears as Vicki, a little girl with a large birthmark on her cheek, who is killed by It after he lures her to under the bleachers at a baseball game. Jess Weixler portrays Bill's wife Audra Denbrough (nee Phillips), Will Beinbrink portrays Beverly's abusive husband Tom Rogan, and Martha Girvin appears as Stanley's wife Patty. Stephen Bogaert, Joe Bostick and Megan Charpentier reprise their roles from the first film as Beverly's abusive father Alvin Marsh, pharmacist Mr. Keene, and Keene's daughter Gretta, respectively. Juno Rinaldi portrays the adult Gretta. It writer and creator of the original 1986 novel Stephen King cameos as a pawn shop owner, the film's director Andy Muschietti cameos as a customer at the pharmacy, and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich cameos as the director of the film based on Bill's novel. Brandon Crane, who portrayed the young Ben in the 1990 miniseries adaptation, also makes a cameo appearance as an associate at Ben's architecture company. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was sought for a cameo as the janitor that Ben encounters when fleeing from Pennywise; despite nearly securing del Toro, he was not included in the final film. Katie Lunman reprises her role as Betty Ripsom in a vocal capacity, in addition to portraying a second character, Chris Unwin. Maturin the Turtle was reported to be in the film. This did not happen, though a turtle can be seen in a classroom scene. Production Development On February 16, 2016, producer Roy Lee, in an interview with Collider, mentioned a second It film, remarking, "Dauberman wrote the most recent draft working with Muschietti, so it's being envisioned as two movies." On July 19, 2017, Muschietti revealed that production was set to begin in the spring of 2018, adding, "We'll probably have a script for the second part in January 2018. Ideally, we would start prep in March. Part one is only about the kids. Part two is about these characters 27 years later as adults, with flashbacks to 1989 when they were kids." On July 21, 2017, Muschietti spoke of looking forward to having a dialogue in the second film that does not exist within the first, stating, "... it seems like we're going to do it. It's the second half, it's not a sequel. It's the second half and it's very connected to the first one." Muschietti stated that two cut scenes from the first film will possibly be included in the second, one of which being the fire at the Black Spot from the book. On September 25, 2017, New Line Cinema announced that the sequel would be released on September 6, 2019, with Gary Dauberman and Jeffrey Jurgensen (who later went uncredited) writing the script. Andy Muschietti returned to direct. Dauberman would later leave the project to write and direct Annabelle Comes Home, while Jason Fuchs was brought in as his replacement. Casting In an interview in July 2017, the child actors from the first film were asked which actors they would choose to play them in the sequel. Sophia Lillis chose Jessica Chastain and Finn Wolfhard chose Bill Hader, both of whom would end up cast in those roles. In September 2017, Muschietti and his sister mentioned that Chastain would be their top choice to play the adult version of Beverly Marsh. In November 2017, Chastain herself expressed interest in the project. Finally, in February 2018, Chastain officially joined the cast to portray the character, making the film her second collaboration with Muschietti after Mama. By April 2018, Hader and James McAvoy were in talks to join the cast to play adult versions of Richie Tozier and Bill Denbrough, respectively. In May 2018, James Ransone, Jay Ryan, and Andy Bean joined the cast to portray adult versions of Eddie Kaspbrak, Ben Hanscom, and Stanley Uris, respectively. In June 2018, Isaiah Mustafa joined as the adult version of Mike Hanlon, while Xavier Dolan and Will Beinbrink were also cast as Adrian Mellon and Tom Rogan, respectively. Later, Teach Grant was cast to play the adult version of Henry Bowers, played by Nicholas Hamilton, and Jess Weixler was also cast, as Bill's wife. This is the second collaboration between McAvoy, Chastain, Hader, Weixler and Beinbrink after The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. In September 2018, it was revealed that Javier Botet would appear in the film. He played It forms, Hobo the Leper and The Witch. Filming Principal photography on the film began on June 19, 2018, at Pinewood Toronto Studios. The sewer system set was constructed at Pinewood, while the actual grate is located in North York. Much of the location work was done in and around Port Hope during summer 2018, as the town stood in for the fictional Derry, Maine; signs and decor were changed as necessary. The Town Hall exterior was used as the Derry Library. Some exterior shots of the hotel were filmed at the town's Hotel Carlyle. Some interiors were filmed at a 1902 mansion in Toronto, Cranfield House, while homes in the city, and in Oshawa and Pickering, were used as exteriors. An old mansion set was built for exteriors of the Pennywise home, and later burned, in Oshawa. The synagogue in the film was actually the Congregation Knesseth Israel in Toronto. Derry High School exteriors were filmed at the Mount Mary Retreat Centre in Ancaster, Ontario. Other locations used by the production included the Elora Quarry Conservation Area, the Scottish Rite Club in Hamilton, Ontario, Audley Park in Ajax, Ontario, Rouge Park in Scarborough, Toronto (as The Barrens) and The Mandarin Restaurant in Mississauga's Malton area. Filming concluded in early November 2018 after 86 days of production. Post-production The visual effects were provided by Atomic Arts and Method Studios. They were supervised by Brooke Lyndon-Stanford, Justin Cornish, and Josh Simmonds, as well as Nicholas Brooks as the Production Supervisor, with help from Cubica, Lola VFX, Make VFX, Rodeo FX and Soho VFX. The teenage actors were digitally de-aged to match their respective ages during filming of the first film. Music | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = | length = 101:15 | label = WaterTower Music | producer = | prev_title = Hellboy (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | prev_year = 2019 | next_title = | next_year = }} Release It Chapter Two had its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles, California on August 26, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 6, 2019 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Marketing The first image of the adult versions of the Losers' Club was released on July 2, 2018, as principal photography began. The first teaser poster of the film was released on October 31, 2018. Footage from the film was shown at the CinemaCon on April 2, 2019. A second teaser poster was released on May 9, 2019, along with a teaser trailer. On July 17, 2019, the second poster and the final trailer were released at San Diego Comic-Con. Reception Box office , It Chapter Two has grossed $160.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $179.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $340 million. In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $90–100 million from 4,570 theaters in its opening weekend, and the week of its release broke Fandango's record for most advance tickets sold by a horror film. The film made $37.4 million in its first day, including $10.5 million from Thursday night previews, the second-highest total for both a September opening and horror film, behind the first film's $13.5 million. It went on to debut to $91 million, also the second-best ever for a horror film and a September release, while being over $30 million less than the first film. The lower debut was attributed to a more mixed critical reception, as well as the nearly three-hour runtime, which exhibitors said curbed business. It made $40.7 million in its second weekend, retaining the top spot. Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 324 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It: Chapter Two proves bigger doesn't always mean scarier for horror sequels, but a fine cast and faithful approach to the source material keep this follow-up afloat." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same as the first film, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 76% and a 56% "definite recommend." Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper praised the production design and cast, but said the film was not as scary as the first, specifying, "For all of Muschietti's visual flourishes and with the greatly talented Bill Skarsgård again delivering a madcap, disturbingly effective, all-in performance as the dreaded Pennywise, It: Chapter Two had a relatively muted impact on me." Variety s Peter DeBruge wrote, "The clown is back, and the kids have grown up in part two of Stephen King's monster novel, which inspires an overlong, but suitably scary sequel," while Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars, stating that "It Chapter Two can be a sprawling, unwieldy mess—overlong, overstuffed and full of frustrating detours—but its casting is so spot-on, its actors have such great chemistry and its monster effects are so deliriously ghoulish that the film keeps you hooked." Katie Rife of The A. V. Club gave the film a grade of "C+," praising Hader's performance but summarizing, "What a shame, than to build this beautiful stage, populate it with talented actors and high-level craftspeople, and then drop them all through the trap door of plodding humor and scattershot plotting." Aja Romano of Vox called the film "well-made and entertaining," but criticized what she termed the "lack of chemistry" between members of the adult cast, and wrote that the film "muddles the message" of the novel on which it is based. Rich Juzwiak of Jezebel gave the film a negative review, calling it "meandering" and "a movie that has no sense of its rules." 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